Availability poll
Collect everyone's availability with one link
Propose the slots you can offer and let the group mark each one Yes, Maybe or No. You get the availability the meeting needs, without a shared calendar and without anyone signing up.
How an availability poll works
- 1
Offer the slots you want availability on
Tap the windows worth asking about on the weekly calendar. You are not publishing your calendar, only the specific slots you are willing to offer, which is why an availability poll leaks far less than a shared calendar does.
- 2
Send one link to everyone
The poll produces a single unlisted link. Share it in chat or email. Nobody signs up, so the response rate depends on interest rather than on how many people are willing to create yet another account.
- 3
Collect availability per slot
Each person answers Yes, Maybe or No on every proposed time. Maybe matters more than it looks: it separates the people who can stretch from the people who genuinely cannot make it, which is what usually breaks a deadlock.
- 4
Read the result and lock it in
The slot with the most availability is highlighted. Lock it, add a video link if the meeting is remote, and everyone can add the meeting to Google, Outlook, Apple or Yahoo Calendar in one tap.
Four rules that get a poll answered
Ask about fewer slots than you think
Every extra option is work for every person you invited. Three to six candidate slots reliably beats a twenty-slot poll that half the group abandons.
Set a response deadline in the meeting name
An availability poll with no cut-off drifts. Saying "answers by Thursday" in the title turns it into a small, closed task.
Let time zones be handled for you
Never write times as text in a chat message for a distributed group. Every slot in the poll renders in the viewer's own zone, which removes the most common cause of a missed call.
Decide with partial data
Waiting for the last two responses costs more than it gains. Once a slot has clear support, lock it and let the invite tell everyone else.
Poll, grid or shared calendar?
An availability poll on proposed slots
You offer specific times, and availability comes back as a vote per slot.
- Fast to answer, which is what drives response rate
- A live tally per slot, so the result reads itself
- Per-viewer time zones
- The winning slot can be locked and turned into invites
- You pick the candidate slots, so a genuinely open week needs more of them
An open availability grid
Everyone paints the hours they are free across a week and you read the overlap.
- Best when no day is obviously better than another
- Captures broad availability
- Slower per person and easy to abandon on a phone
- The result still needs interpreting and announcing
- No invite at the end
Calendar sharing
Everyone exposes their calendar and you look for gaps.
- No polling step at all when everyone is in one organization
- Useless for external guests, who will not share a calendar
- Shows far more than the meeting needs to know
- Free slots are not the same as willing slots
Related reading: group availability calendar, meeting polls and scheduling across time zones.
Turn your slots into an availability poll
Offer the times you can host, share one link, and see exactly who can make each slot before you book anything.
Availability polls, FAQ
What is an availability poll?
An availability poll asks a group when they can meet. The organizer proposes candidate time slots and shares one link; every person marks each slot Yes, Maybe or No. The result shows which time has the most availability.
How do I create a free availability poll?
Tap the slots you want to ask about on the calendar, name the meeting, and share the link the poll gives you. Decider is free for the organizer, and free for everyone who responds.
Do respondents need an account?
No. They open the link, enter a name, and mark their availability. Only the organizer signs in, so the poll can be managed and the final time locked.
How is an availability poll different from an availability grid?
A poll asks about specific proposed slots, which is faster to answer and produces a decision directly. A grid collects open-ended availability across a whole week, which is more thorough but slower and still needs you to interpret it and announce the time.
Does an availability poll work across time zones?
Yes. Each slot is displayed in the local time zone of whoever is looking at the poll, so nobody converts times by hand.
How many people can respond?
As many as you like. The live tally under each slot keeps the result readable whether four people or fifty answer.
Can I see who has not responded yet?
Yes. Every response is listed by name, so you can chase only the people still missing instead of messaging the whole group again.
Keep exploring
Ask once, get everyone's availability
Free to use, and the people you invite never create an account.
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